Twin Dilemma
by kimzie-kitty
Summary: Emily Bartowski - Chuck's twin - wasn't supposed to have anything to do with the Intersect. But when she walks into her brother's room at the wrong time, she gets it too. Then, the CIA and NSA arrive, guns ablaze. They have no idea that she has it, and her brother is determined to keep it that way. Will she be able to protect herself? Will they find out? Eventual Casey/OC
1. Chapter 1

I loomed outside my twin brother's bedroom door.

"Pedal safe!" I heard him call to his goofy and desperate friend Morgan. I waited a moment, trying to figure out the best time for me to enter. It was his birthday, and I had just gotten home from a session at the gym.

I heard his keys clack, and I opened the door.

"_Attack troll with nasty knife." _I heard my brother mumble, and I stepped inside his room, closing the door behind him.

"Chuck?" I asked, and walked over to his side. Suddenly, a bright light flashed onto the screen, and millions of pictures flew by, and I blanked out.

I was vaguely aware of the outside light slowly growing brighter, and my legs aching. My world suddenly spun again and I awoke some time later to Morgan and Chuck kneeling above me, worried looks on their faces.

"Sis!" he waved his hand, and I blinked in shock when his fingers left a peach colored trail.

_What happened last night?_ I groaned and he called my name.

"Em!" Morgan poked my cheek, and I rolled onto my side, squeezing my eyes shut.

"Morgan, Chuck?" I asked in confusion. "What happened?"

Their large hands wrapped around my arms and carefully lugged my deadweight body onto Chuck's bed.

"I was going to ask you guys the same thing." the bearded man replied.

"Did you spike the punch or something?" I mumbled into my brother's shoulder.

Memories of last night flooded into my mind. I remembered spending time at my brother's party, going to the gym, Morgan leaving, and then..._nothing_. Everything after that was absolutely blank.

And that bothered me.

Really bothered me, actually.

"Something goes wrong, and you both blame me." he threw his hands up in exasperation. "After all these years of our friendship, Em, Chuck, where's the trust?"

I heard him mumble, almost to himself, "_Yes, I did." _and I sat up, grumbling.

"Morgannnn!" I complained, punching his shoulder.

He grinned sheepishly.

"Well, I'm going to get a shower, I guess." I got up, my legs sore, but not wobbly.

~0~

I stood in front of a foggy mirror, towel drying my hair.

"_The 101 is clear at Universal City. Watch out for delays near Burbank Airport. Security is checking all vehicles." _My radio announced.

My vision was suddenly overtaken by a frenzy of flashing images, and I felt my body freeze in place. I couldn't make heads or tails of them. What seemed like hours later, but what was in reality only about five seconds, the foggy mirror returned. I pushed my damp brown hair back behind my ears, and stared at my reflection.

I took the corner of the towel and wiped a circle of fog away.

My eyes were puffy, giving me a sick look. My vision tilted as a dizzy spell washed over me. _Just great._

White knuckling the counter, I slipped my robe on as easily as I could, and tied a knot in the belt.

"Sissy?" I stumbled into the hallway, looking for my older sister, and my almost mother, Ellie.

"Em?" she stuck her head into the hall. "Are you okay?" coming out from her bedroom in her scrubs, she frowned. "Gosh, you look terrible."

I chuckled dryly. "Thanks." I slumped into her offered hug. "I don't feel so great. I think Morgan spiked the punch."

She held me at arms length and scoffed. "No wonder! Chuck looked sick this morning, too!"

I pressed my lips together and nodded grimly.

~Later, at work~

My current occupation was as a cashier at this little store called Lexi's Closet. It was two stores down from my brother's work, the Buy More. Lexi's Closet sold secondhand clothes from popular stores like Forever 21, Abercrombie and Fitch, Aeropostle, Old Navy, etc. I absolutely loved it, and I even got to hold stuff back if I wanted to try it on when we were looking through the bins of clothes we had bought from people.

Now, don't get me wrong, I had nothing against fashion retail, but I honestly wanted to do _something_ with my life. I went to San Fran State to get a basic degree until I decided, but that was almost a year ago, and I still hadn't figured anything out. I had originally wanted to go to the Army or Marines, but decided against that once I broke my ankle the second year in college. No way I could run after bad guys with a jacked up ankle.

"Em, hun, you can go on lunch break now!" Lexi, the obvious owner and my boss, called to me from the back. She was in her early forties, and had auburn hair, fair skin, green eyes, and one rascally seven year old named Nate, whom I often babysat for extra money.

"Alright!" I called back, grabbing my purse from under the counter. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah, it's slow today, go on ahead!"

I returned my thanks and exited the shop, going over to my brother's work.

When I entered the wall to wall appliance store, I noticed Chuck, and three of his fellow workers crowded around a computer inside the Nerd Herd station.

"Hey Chuck." I said with a big smile, leaning against the desk.

"Hi Emily!" Jeff replied, his eyes drifting down, then back up.

"Why, helllooo Em." Lester, the equally perverted Indian chimed in, also lacking eye contact like his friend.

I stood up and crossed my arms. Lester and Jeff have always shamelessly flirted with me, ever since I started to visit my brother during lunch. I don't think they've pieced together that he's my brother just quite yet, and neither Chuck nor I wanted to tell them.

"Hi _Chuck_." I repeated my brother's name, and went behind the counter, pushing them out of the way.

"Hey Em." he smiled at me, all dimples and curls. "Subway sound good today?"

I nodded, a whole wheat turkey sub making my stomach rumble.

"BARTOWSKI!" a heavy-set black man lumbered into view. "NO GOING OUT FOR LUNCH! YOU HAVE TO FIX THAT COMPUTER!"

I raised a hand in greeting at Big Mike, the manager of this particular Buy More. "Hi Big Mike."

His expression softened a little and he smiled. "Good afternoon, Miss Bartowski." he nodded at me once, and glared at Chuck again. "NOW."

My brother's eyebrows shot up, and he nodded rapidly, pulling out a keyboard from under the desk.

"Wait..." I heard Jeff mumble to Lester. "Why did he call her Bartowski?"

I turned on my heel, and slid my hand down my face in exasperation. They'd probably – hopefully – back off if they knew I was chuck's sister. "I'm his twin-sister, knuckleheads."

"Twins?" Jeff mouthed, and turned, wide-eyed to Lester. "Clones?"

They stared wide-eyed and me, and nodded to themselves. I groaned, and looked back to Chuck, who was rambling on about how the virus is called the Irene Demova virus, and implied that Morgan went on the porn star's website.

"Anna, Em, close your eyes." he held a hand up over my eyes, and I rolled my eyes, pulling it away.

Not like I didn't have what she had!

Anna didn't look away either. Your typical slutty girl appeared on the screen.

"_Food is sexy." _she said, her Serbian accent heavy. "_Am I sexy_?" It repeated it again, and then distorted.

The screen and laptop itself made a sizzling noise, and the screen went black.

Chuck and the rest of us glanced over at Morgan, who shrugged innocently. "Sorry, Chuck, she drives me _crazy_, but that's love!" he jammed his finger down on the remote in his hand, turning on all the televisions behind him.

"Just ignore dirty uncle Morgan." my brother said, rolling his eyes, but still smiling slightly. "I think that everything..."

The newscaster on the TV caught both my brother and I's attention.

"...Los Angeles later today. To deliver his speech tomorrow evening-"

We stared at the television, confused. "...will be...normal..."

The strange images, flashed violently in front of my eyes, and this time I was able to make out a clip of a plane or jet taking off, and of an older man in a suit walking towards my view.

"He's already here." I mumbled. "He landed last night."

Chuck's eyes widened as he repeated what I said, only a bit louder.

"Who's already here, Chuckles?" Anna asked, leaning forward to try and see his face.

"I don't know." I replied for him, gnawing on my lip. "I'm going to go get Subway." I laid a hand on his arm, meeting his eyes. His eyes looked as haunted as I imagined mine did. "Your usual?"

He nodded, snapping out of his stupor. I felt his five dollars shoved into my hand.

Whenever I went out and brought back Subway, or Chinese, or whatever else he and I wanted, he would pay me $. I protested originally, but we came to a compromise. He wanted to be a good brother and pay, and I wanted to spend more time with my best friend/brother.

I turned on my heel and walked towards the Subway.

Later, I brought back Chuck's sandwich and half of mine, only to see him standing with a pretty blonde girl, a younger girl in a tutu with her father, and Morgan.

I caught Morgan glancing at the blonde quite frequently, and I giggled to myself.

_Oh Morgan, ever the flirt._

When I got closer, I saw the man panicking. "Oh no...oh no! Mom's gonna kill me."

My brother glanced at the girl, who shrugged.

"Hi." I greeted, beaming up at Chuck. This girl smelled like trouble to me, and she was way to pretty to be sending flirty eyes at my brother. Pretty girls like her always went for the jock types or bad boys, never the nerds, as sad as it was to admit.

"I brought you your lunch." I set the foot-long sandwich down on the counter and turned to the man. Chuck introduced me to the girl, whose name was Sarah. I could tell she thought I was his girlfriend or something at first, just by the uncertain look that was plastered on her face.

I glanced at the dad and daughter, then to Morgan.

"Morgan!" I called to my friend. "I need the wall."

Morgan glanced at my brother for the 'okay' before leaving, calling over his shoulder, "It's yours."

"Didn't put digital tape in?" I asked with a gentle smile. The man nodded.

Chuck, whom seemed to get my wonder twin idea, came over. "Ready?"

The girl looked upset, and he knelt down to her height. "What's wrong?"

"I'm usually in the back row." she admitted, and frowned.

"Why?" I furrowed my brows and knelt next to my brother and the ballerina.

"I'm too tall, and I block the other ballerinas."

I smiled to myself. "Wanna know something? But you can't tell the other girls." Chuck continued, glancing at me.

"Real ballerinas _are_ tall." he nudged me. "That's why she isn't one. My sister's way too short." we stood up and I scoffed, placing my hands on my hips.

"Not my fault you're a giant and I'm normal."

I was only 5'6, and my brother was a giant to me, and practically everyone else. He was a whopping 6'4.

We all chuckled, and I explained to the others my plan.

The girl began her dance, this time, being recorded with a tape in the slot, and four televisions behind her showing what the camera saw.

We grinned and I glanced over at Lester and the dad who was watching his daughter with an even bigger grin. My eyes then drifted over to Sarah. She looked impressed and happy.

_Wow, maybe not that bad after all._

Once the ballerina, Susie, was finished, Chuck headed over to the Nerd Herd desk, where Sarah was, only to be blocked by Harry Tang, one of the most obnoxious and rude employees in the store.

"Chuck!" he snarled, looking up at my brother.

I watched Harry bicker at him, while Chuck replied calmly and politely. I don't know how he did it, I would have probably tried to deck the bald man a long time ago. He's always been more level headed then me when it came to dealing with rude people it seems.

I finally sat down with Morgan and Anna, and finished my lunch before returning to work. The day finished slowly, but thankfully my drive home was quick.

When I went into my front door, I saw a ninja, an actual NINJA carrying out Chuck's computer.

"Wha-?" I mumbled, drawing my attention to myself. The ninja's head whipped around to mine, and took a defensive stance. I'd only taken a few self defense lessons from Devon, and I hadn't taken any karate since middle school and the first year of high school.

I felt the images flash again at my stance, and everything came back almost instantly. I carefully rearranged my feet, and grabbed the book off the shelf, flinging it at the black clad person. They threw it back, causing me to dive for the ground, and roll. I yelped as my shoulder came in contact with the couch leg.

My senses screamed, and I leaped to my feet, trying to lash out to get them away and out of my apartment, which was adjacent to Ellie's, and had adjoining doors. They easily deflected my wrist, and I snarled in frustration. I lashed out again, sending a kick and then a punch. Only to have to avoid my foe's kicks and punches moments later.

My door suddenly burst open, and Chuck and Morgan stared wide eyed at the scene. The slight distraction caused the ninja to lash out again, sending me flying back into the wall, my head banging against the door frame on the way down.

"Come on Chuck!" Morgan exclaimed. "Do something!"

My vision was hazy, but I watched as Chuck's eyes landed on me, and then his computer, laying in a heap in the ninja's arms. He jumped into action, trying to seem menacing. "Give me that-"

I watched in shock as the ninja threw it up, swept my brothers' legs out from under him, and kicked him to the wall, all before the long black arms shot out and snatched the computer out from mid-air.

Morgan then rushed forward with a golf-club, and I passed out.

I awoke on my own couch, Awesome [aka Devon], Ellie's boyfriend, hovering over me. He was an attractive blond haired nurse, with blue eyes and a nice smile. Almost like a typical jock, but he was a doctor, and a really good one at that.

"Em." he murmured, waving a little flashlight in front of my eyes, testing for pupil response I supposed.

I groaned. "Did they get the ninja?"


	2. Chapter 2

_Previously on Twin Dilemma..._

_I awoke on my own couch, Awesome [aka Devon], Ellie's boyfriend, hovering over me. He was an attractive blond haired nurse, with blue eyes and a nice smile. Almost like a typical jock, but he was a doctor, and a really good one at that._

_"Em." he murmured, waving a little flashlight in front of my eyes, testing for pupil response I supposed. _

_I groaned. "Did they get the ninja?"_

* * *

He flashed me a confused look. "You mean the robber?"

I squinted. "There was a ninja. He was in my half of the apartment, tried to take..." my mind swam. "Tried to take Chuck's computer."

Devon helped me into a seated position and draped a blanket over my legs. "They got away, but I guess Chuck's computer got destroyed in the process."

I sighed, sinking down into the pillows and blankets on the couch. "Do I have a concussion?"

He waved the flashlight again, then nodded. "A little one, and you busted your head on the wall, Morgan said."

My fingers prodded my forehead, and I found butterfly tape right above the end of my right eyebrow. I winced. "Where'd they go?"

He shrugged, and sat on the coffee table across from me. "He left mumbling about buying new locks."

I nodded uncertainly, yawning widely a moment later. "Is it okay if I get some rest?"

"Yeah. Want to sleep over on our couch? Or will you be okay here?"

I glanced at my bedroom door, which was down the short hallway to my left. "I'll just sleep in my bed and lock my window."

"Alright." he stood up, and helped me up. "Ellie's on her way home now. I called and told her what happened."

I smiled faintly. "Thanks Devon."

He helped me stagger into my room, and I plopped onto bed.

I looked down at my jeans and shoes. "I got the rest, thanks Awesome." I smiled thankfully, yawning again.

He nodded once, and left.

I changed into my pajamas, took the Advil he left me, and fell right asleep.

The next morning, I called in sick to work, due to the splitting headache I still had, but ended up going over to Buy More with Chuck's lasagna lunch Ellie had left in the fridge from last night.

When I arrived, a blonde girl was at the counter again, and when I got closer, I saw it was Sarah.

I nodded politely at her, and she smiled back, studying me curiously.

"Great." she replied to Chuck, and left.

Chuck and I went back into the break room, and ate our lasagna.

"What was that all about?" I said in between bites, smiling curiously at my brother.

"I have a date." his cheeks grew slightly pink and he chuckled nervously.

"AWWWWW!" I almost shrieked. "Chuckie's got a daaatee!" I teased in a sing song voice. "Chuckie's got a date!"

He chuckled nervously again and told me to shush it.

I laughed and we talked about this Sarah girl for a few minutes longer.

"Chuck." Big Mike stuck his head into the break room. He eyed me, always a bit annoyed when I was in the employee section of the store. He never said anything though, because I would occasionally bring the Nerd Herd and Big Mike doughnuts if I was near a Krispy Kreme.

"You can head home if you want. Store's slow." he shrugged and headed back to his office.

"Let's go get you ready, buddy!" I leaped up out of my seat, ignoring the tipsy turning of my vision, and ruffled his hair.

He shook his head, grinning. "I'm not a Ken doll you know."

I grinned widely back at him. "You know I hate Barbies."

We headed home, Chuck and Morgan in his Nerd Herder, and myself in my little Mini Cooper.

"GUESS WHAT!" I squealed, running into the living room to jump up and down.

Ellie sat up, excited. "What?"

Chuck walked in behind me, rubbing the back of his neck. "He has a date!" Morgan announced, leaping onto his best friend's back.

"Way to go, Chuck. That's awesome." Awesome said smiling at Ellie.

"Who?" Ellie asked, and Morgan opened his mouth, probably to rant about how hot and blonde she was, but I cut him off.

"Never mind who, what's he going to wear!" My sister and I met eyes and we dragged Chuck into his room, and spend the next hour throwing clothes at him and messing with his hair.

Ironically enough, my nerdy yet amazing brother was technically older than me by two minutes, but it didn't matter.

While we got him ready, he was a bit nervous, and our twin connection we always had made me nervous too!

_He just met the girl, and I had gotten a weird vibe off of her at first..._

_No Em!_ I chided myself_. Stop being paranoid and let the poor kid go on a date!_

~0~

Chuck was wandering outside in the courtyard, when Ellie threw flowers in my hand and shooed me towards our brother. "Hey!" I handed him the flowers. "Ellie says these are leftovers from your birthday party." I adjusted his shirt, and smoothed out the collar before patting his shoulder once. "She says to remind you, no talking about Jill."

He nodded once. "Got it."

Jill was Chuck's college girlfriend. They were both into the same thing, and were really close, until his roommate and close friend, Bryce Larkin slept with her _and_ got him kicked out of Stanford. Let's just say he was super sad for a while and they aren't friends anymore either.

Ellie walked up behind us and we shared a smile. "They grow up so fast." I pretended to wipe a tear from my eye and Ellie laughed.

"Aces, Charles. You're aces." my big sister quoted Dad, and I smiled a bit.

"A dad quote." I mumbled.

"I'm impressed, Love you two." Chuck hugged us and we wished him luck.

Morgan came up and sniffled, flashing my sister a wide eyed puppy-dog face. He always had a crush on her. I thought it was silly, and Ellie always thought it was disgusting. Poor Mor.

"Go home, Morgan." Ellie said, she held up her hands, and shooed him away. "Go home."

He glanced at me and I chuckled. "I have...stuff to do. See you tomorrow."

He frowned a bit but waved and headed over to his bike.

That was partially true, I did need to get some laundry done.

Morgan rode off, and Ellie and I went back inside.

"I'm so happy for him!" Ellie squealed and grinned widely at me. "Now if we could only get _you_ someone!" she nudged me.

I groaned and slapped my forehead, running my hand down over my face. "Ellie!"

"What?" she batted her eyes innocently at me and laughed. "I'm going to go read, see you in the morning." she gave me a quick hug and retreated to her room.

I went to mine and dumped my laundry out onto the floor so I could separate it into colors to wash.

_Better get started..._

About an hour later, my phone rang. I dug in my purse for it, before giving up and dumping the contents onto my bed.

_Bingo._

"Chuck?" I asked, wondering why he would call me during his date.

I barely heard Sarah's voice in the background. "Listen to me, Chuck. Those men will hurt you. They're from the NSA, and they're after you."

My eyes widened and realized he must have pocket dialed me.

"Me?" I heard my brother respond incredulously. "Why, why, why, why me? I'm nobody. I'm a supervisor of the Nerd Herd at a Buy More. Maybe one day I'll be assistant store manager and I don't even know if I want that job! You – you know what? That's not your problem. But that is."

She gasped and the sound of crunching metal and glass breaking filled my ears.

_What should I do? Call the police? ...I don't even know where they are!_

What follows next is only what I am told later on.

Chuck stumbled out of the car and staggered around, shocked that he flattered a CIA agent. While the other car was racing towards them, having backed up after the impact, Sarah threw a knife at the 'emergency blockade button' and the car skidded into it. The other car was effectively stopped and destroyed.

"Request emergency evac. Track location: we're on foot." Sarah panted out, and I heard her shout, "Let's go!" at my brother.

The sounds of their feet hitting the pavement and just running in particular was all I heard for a few minutes.

"How well do you know Bryce Larkin?" she suddenly seemed to ask.

My mouth dropped open again and I turned the volume up, curious and desperate to hear more.

"Wh – how - how do you know Bryce?" Chuck asked in disbelief.

I couldn't exactly make out everything she said, but all I could hear was _worked_ and CIA.

The next few sentences were jumbled too, but then I heard _rogue spy_ and the connection seemed to get better.

"He - he sent - he sent me an email." he panted out, and I could picture a look of terror on his face.

"Did you open it?"

"Yeah. It was - it was, uh, a line from Zork-"

_Zork?_ I gnawed on my lip. _Why did that sound familiar? Was it one of his many played computer games?"_

"What?" Sarah voiced my confusion, much to my surprise.

"Zork. It's, uh, it's a video game that we used to play. There was a riddle and I solved it and, uh, pictures. Lots and lots of pictures." My vision blurred and I remembered standing behind my brother, the millions of pictures flashing before our eyes and seeming to sear themselves into my brain.

"You saw them?" the blonde agent seemed to be absolutely flabbergasted. "Your computer - did you back it up? Is there an external drive?"

"It crashed a week ago." all was quiet until my brother managed to stutter out, "Wait, wait. Wasn't I supposed to look at those pictures?"

Sarah sighed, and I heard the wind howl. _Were they on a roof?_

"I may have to aim my gun at you, so just don't freak out." her voice was so gentle and soft, I barely caught it.

"Why?"

I heard another male voice, and the line went dead.

I blinked rapidly, trying to figure out if this was all some crazy dream, or if my brother really did have a gun aimed at him on top of a roof.

The washer's loud beeping blared from the small closet in the hallway, and my heart jumped.

"I guess I could just go watch TV, and wait for Chuck to come home..." I mumbled aloud.

_If he comes home..._

I turned on the television and found the news was on, talking about some General Stanfield. At the mention of that name, I blurred again.

I saw the schematics to a building, the face of some random demolition expert from Serbia, what looked to be a bomb, more schedules, even more pictures flashed and then everything came back into focus.

_Was someone – the Serbian? - going to blow up that building?_

The adventurous side of me screamed to go do something. If there were CIA people with Chuck, then he would tell them about this, right? He watched the pictures too, and Ellie said he didn't feel good...

_Did we both have these...flashes?_

I leaped up from my bed and snatched the keys off my dresser, running to my Mini Cooper.

Somehow, I knew the way to this building – the hotel – and knew which way would be fastest. _I had to do something. I couldn't let people die. It wasn't right._

After speeding down the highway, parking in the nearest free parking lot, I was sprinting down the street towards the building. I caught sight of a dark head of hair go into the building, followed by a burly man and a blonde – Sarah – and knew that I was at the right place.

_Of course you're at the right place, Em. You flashed._ A voice whispered.

I finally reached the doors and ran inside, still following the mental map in my head.

"Through there!" I heard Chuck yell, and rounded the corner to catch another glimpse of the same people run into a room.

When I ran into the room, a few people turned and glanced at me curiously, but didn't seem to think much. Chuck and I both caught sight of the tray and cart with the white table cloth draped over it at the same moment. I stayed where I was, not wanting to get myself involved. Two agents and my brother should be able to deal with it...

I gnawed on my lip anxiously, staring at them.

The burly man glanced at me, looked away and looked again, narrowing his eyes. He moved his head to the side a bit, before being interrupted by a man in a suit.

The man whispered something to the other.

Stanfield, who was on stage, looking a bit flustered, said. "There's, uh, ladies and gentleman, we may have..." he trailed off and I focused on my brother again. I could tell the man was trying to see where I went, but I assumed he couldn't see, as some people stood up and tried to exit.

My brother's phone rang, and I saw him answer it, an exasperated look on his face.

I quickly made my way around the crowd, finally seeing the same sort of laptop Chuck had showed me before. A Prism Express.

It was counting down, with under a minute left.

_The Irene Demova virus!_

I whipped out my cell, my fingers flying over the keys

_use I. demova virus!_ I selected Chuck's name and hit send.

He got in seconds later, and his eyes widened, looking around. He seemed to notice the impending doom, and his fingers flew across the keys. The others got a disgusted look on their faces. I knew that it worked by the excited look on Chuck's face.

"I did it! I did it. I, I defused a real bomb! I defused a real bomb! I defused a real bomb!...what if I was wrong?" by this time, he looked like he was going to be sick.

I noticed them start to leave, so I ran for the exit, not wanting to be seen. Something about them seemed ominous.

I hid in the bushes, and listened as they talked.

"What about my sisters?!" Chuck demanded, eyes wide.

"We were just-" Sarah broke in, before he cut her off.

"No, no, no, you listen. You have to leave my family and my friends out of this."

The large man laughed and grabbed his sleeve. "We'll see."

He tugged his arm away, to no avail. "Look, Bryce sent that email to me. I'm the one remembering all your secrets. Which means you have to listen to me. Both of you. And right now, I'm gonna go home."

"You, you need me." he took off, and once the agents were a bit away, I ran after Chuck.

"CHUCK!" I hissed, panting.

He turned on his heel, and he gave me a huge hug. "Em!" he pulled away to look at me. "What are you doing here?"

I swallowed, and looked down. "I flash too..."

His mouth dropped open into a small 'O'.

"What?"

I nodded slowly.

"We can't let them find out!" he looked around the parking lot in paranoia. "Where's your car?"

~0~

When I woke the next morning, I knew that Chuck had probably spent the whole night at the beach, staring into the distance. He was having a hard time coming to grips with the fact that his life was probably going to start falling apart, what with the government stalking him practically.

I got up and yanked out my braid, my hair falling in waves. I didn't feel like putting on any makeup, but I put on some chapstick before getting into my car and driving the block to the beach. When I reached the beach, I saw Sarah getting into her own car, flashing me a charming smile.

"Hey, Emily, right?"

I nodded once. "Sarah, right?"

She nodded back. "He's down there still."

"Okay, thanks." I replied, and locked the car, walking down to the beach.

"Hey." I said softly, sitting next to him. "How are you?"

He shrugged, "As well as I can be, considering I – we -" he said the we softly, before continuing. "Have a government computer in my brain, and a CIA operative telling me to 'trust her'." he sighed, raking a hand through his curly mop of hair. "I just met her, and she wants me to trust her? I mean-" he scoffed dryly. "Come on."

I nodded in agreement. "I don't think I've really come to grips with the fact that I have it too. I haven't been really thinking about it, if I can help it."

His brows were furrowed. "They don't even want you to know, or Ellie – anybody, really! I don't know how they expect me to keep this from the people I love! I mean yeah, they're probably going to be safer that way, but I'm me, I'm not used to keeping secrets! Especially ones this dangerous!"

I glanced at my watch, which read 9:30. I started work in an hour, and so did Chuck.

"I don't know what to tell you." I stood up and offered him a hand, smiling slightly. "C'mon bro, lets get you cleaned up and ready for work."

His dark hazel eyes met mine and he stood up, hugging me tightly.

"I'm so glad I have you as a sister."

I beamed at him. "I'm glad that we're the same age, too! It makes it easier to talk to you."

He nodded in agreement, and we headed back to our cars.

~0~


End file.
